Lady Kassandra Starr the CyberKnight chapter1920
by Charisma Belle
Summary: more fun with Kassie, and Chris, enter Peter and Kean and a return of Kara who was based off a friend from work named Karen that asked me to immortalize her in a story, sense she knew i write them .


The Diary of Lady Kassandra Starr chapter 19-20

_Chapter 19 _

_New Friends._

_Down in the tavern I see Chris sitting at a table with a plate of scrambled eggs and toast in front of him as Jeffry pours him another cup of coffee._

"_Ah good morning Lady Kassandra," he says, "it is nice to see you well on such a lovely day."_

"_I suppose," I say than I look at Jeffry than back at Chris," is this special coffee or are you a morning person?" _

"_I just love the freshness of a new day is all," Chris tells me, "there is something renewing about it, like for a moment in time everything is at peace once more, the world as one embarks on the possibility of the future."_

"_I used to feel that way too," I admit._

"_I was wondering Lady," he asked me, "May I ask you to join me for breakfast and maybe intrigue you into a small venture?"_

"_What kind of venture," I asked as I sat._

"_May I get you a plate of food Lady," Jeffry asked?_

"_Please," I say_

"_the town it seems is having a problem and has asked me to help them out," he says, "I was thinking that, well, being that you're a cyber-knight and all, maybe you would help me out with it, besides a young lady like you needs to earn credit does she not?"_

"_So what is the adventure exactly," I asked_

"_Seems there is a cave," he says, "folk in town, men folk that is, work in the cave, however seems lately they got some problems with men not coming back, or running back screaming of an attack from some creature they can't explain really."_

"_Sounds interesting," I say._

"_Towns offering a pretty reward too," he says._

"_When you want to leave," I asked._

"_Say after we put some nourishment in our stomachs," he says in almost a fatherly way that to me made him seem much older than I had guessed he could be._

_I meet Chris out by his horse and he is now in armor and he looks at me funny._

"_Don't start on the armor thing ok," I say, "believe you me I have heard that one more times than I can count and I am fine."_

"_So be it Lady," he says._

_We ride about two miles out of town riding quickly to make the most of the day light._

_The first impression of the cave was there wasn't anything, I see no people, no bodies, no monster, I don't even sense evil at all._

_Than we ride up a little closer and the evil stench begins to get to me._

"_We are in the right place," I say._

"_I noticed," he says._

_I get off my horse and tie her up as I begin to walk into the cave, Chris is right behind me. _

_Just inside I see some equipment for mining and blood, lots of blood. A helmet lays in the dirt and I lean down and touch it as I concentrate a moment on the images of what was, it had been a while sense I had done it an I wasn't even sure if I could still._

_I see two men talking and walking into the cave, than I see a Minotaur come at them faster than I would have expected it could move; it attacks by swinging a large ax. The men really had no chance of survival for they didn't even see it coming, the ax went right threw them both._

_A third man runs passed the men and to the exit to safety or so he thought just to have the ax lob his head right off. _

_I blinked my eyes a few times as the scene went back to normal. _

"_It's a minotaur," I say._

"_You're kidding," Chris says, "and you know this how?"_

"_I saw it," I say, "I get these visions sometimes."_

"_I never knew a cyber-knight with visions before," Chris says._

"_I'm not real sure if it's the knight part or just me," I say, "anyhow he has an ax, it went right threw them like a hot knife thru butter."_

"_So than watch out for the ax," he says._

"_That would be a good idea," I say._

"_Is this really a good idea then," he asked and I looked at him._

"_I'll be fine," I say, "I um, I can't wear armor, I'm Closter-phobic, it kind of makes me a little strange, I freeze and I freak out, not a great thing in combat."_

"_What happens if you get hit," he asked as we walk farther into the cave?_

"_I may get hit, I may not," I say, "We will just have to wait and see what happens in there."_

"_Are you sure about that," he asked me?_

"_Yes," I said and I looked at him and smiled._

_We must have walked an hour deeper and deeper into the earth as the sickening feeling of evil gets stronger. We have left the trail behind and now climb over and under rock and caverns._

"_You know Chris if you just wanted to get me alone in a cave you should have just asked," I teased._

"_Well after last night in the bar I wasn't sure," he teased back and I saw it, this could really be the beginning of a friendship like with Doc, it was there, the same thing._

_My thoughts were interrupted by the feeling of evil again as it suddenly got so strong that I had to catch my breath._

"_I feel it too," Chris says, "keep your eyes open."_

"_Always," I say._

_Why I'll never know but I turned around just as the blade of the ax hit my stomach._

_For a split second I acted without thought and I brought my knee up to his groin as my fist went to his face, than I spun around and kicked him with all my strength._

_Chris had some sword of some kind, it was a light blade I hadn't seen before, he came up behind the Minotaur and sliced him once, then again, the third slice and its head fell off._

_As the Minotaur's head was cut off its blood spurt into my face and open mouth._

"_Ewe," I said as I spit as much of the blood out of my mouth as I could._

"_You got hit," Chris said._

"_Yeah I know," I said as I played with the hole in my shirt, than I lifted it enough to see the cut in my flesh. It was deeper than I expected, far from fatal but deep, but hell I'll heal it up easily enough. "Don't sweat it; it's just a scratch really."_

_I turned and began to make my way out of the cave as I suddenly began to feel confined underground this way._

"_Hay wait up," Chris called, "there could be more that you don't know about Lady, wait up."_

_I ignored him in a way; right at that point my fear held me and all I could think about was my escape, the smell of dirt mixed with blood, my blood, the fear, it had me in its clutches. Some of these caverns were small, rather tight fitting. The dirt wall would be close enough to rub up against my arm or leg and I would feel myself cringe inside. Like a small child faced with the imaginary monsters only they seem to see I felt as if I had to run away. I shook inside, I couldn't breathe, in a way all my bravado shrank away leaving only the fear. Somehow I had fought my fear when I sensed evil, the look of the men as they were butchered in my mind, but now that I knew he was dead my fear had me._

"_Gees Kassandra," Chris called as he caught up with me and the light of day began to pour back into our faces, the opening of the cave in plain sight._

"_Hay," he said, he touched my shoulder and I turned and looked at him confused for I really hadn't paid much attention at all, all I heard all I felt was my fear. "Wow, I thought you said it was just a scratch."_

_I looked down and my t-shirt, which had been gray, was now mostly rust colored, from my own blood, I had lost that much already. It wasn't healing the way it should be; in fact I don't think it had healed at all, oh and did it hurt, the sting of a fresh wound usually was one of the first things to go but it hadn't faded one bit. The jeans I wore were also soaked in blood. It poured out of me like a leaky water facet._

"_It's nothing, really," I say, even though I was more scared than I wanted to let on the truth was I was already feeling the effects of the blood loss and the last thing I needed at this point was to give in to that weakness._

_My bag was on my horse, I had already learned that I should never go into combat without a change of clothes, I ripped it open and pulled out another shirt and changed it, without caring if anyone looked, be damned if they do. Then I took my bloody shirt and ripped it to tie around my stomach like a bandage to try and slow the bleeding some._

"_Here let me help you," Chris offered._

"_I got it," I snapped._

"_Ok fine," he said._

_Without another word I climb up on my horse and I start off back to the town as Chris jumps up on his horse and tries to catch up. _

_Not one word was spoken during the trip back, not one, Chris looks my way a few times but says nothing nor do I, I just don't know how to explain my fear, I mean why was it that I wasn't healing, it made no sense to me, I always healed I know not that quickly but still I shouldn't be losing blood as quickly as this or feeling the loss this much the wound should have started clotting enough to slow the blood lose by now. What more I had no one really to ask about it, no one to turn to for answers._

_The moment we got to the town I tied Spirit up in front of the inn and grabbed my bag, the shirt I was wearing was now also soaked in my blood, my pants, well the blood pool just grew larger, even the horse was reddening._

_I went straight up to my room and dropped my bag on the bed and stripped off my shirt and looked at the rather large cut in the bathroom mirror, it hadn't healed at all, not one bit._

_The water was turned as hot as I could make it and I stood there as the water ran down my body and turned red before it hit my waist. I waited and waited for the bleeding to stop but nothing happened at all, it just kept coming. The fear I was feeling at that moment was unnerving in a sense and I went to my knees as I cried, I lay there curled up on the floor of the shower and cried for a long time._

_Damn it Kass you can't do this, I said to myself, I could almost see Alex in my mind, hear him too, he told me that I couldn't just lay there bleeding to death, that I had to get up and get a hold of myself, that I had to wrap the wounds up and try to slow the bleeding some. I think that's the only reason I got up and out of the shower and wrapped myself in a towel. Out in my room I pulled some bandages I carried with me for when I needed them, I also in my little kit had a needle and thread to force myself to sew the wound closed as good as I could manage myself. The whole while my teeth I held clenched to hold out my fear and the pain as best I could then I went back into the bathroom to begin bandaging myself up the way Alex would if he were here, oh god how I wished he were here right now to help me out._

_As I pulled my head threw the clean shirt I jumped as I saw something or someone in the mirror._

"_What the," I said, "Gees Hermes just how long have you been watching me?"_

"_Only a moment I swear I wasn't being a peeping tom, I am only here helping out," he says._

"_Help me," I cried as the tears began to build up once more, "why is this happening to me, why is it not healing at all, I always heal."_

"_My dear Kassandra everyone has to have a weakness," he says_

_I looked away from him._

_Oh a weakness, didn't I have more the one of those?_

"_look it wasn't the minotaur," he says, "but his ax, it was enchanted in a way, you took real damage from it and you will have to heal it in real time like a normal human would, but it will heal in time, without a scar to show off." _

"_Why is it always you popping up," I asked, "why not Hercules, where is he when I need someone to tell me anything?"_

"_Sorry to disappoint," +_

"_you know what I mean Hermes," I said, "I have so many questions and no real answers to them, no one will answer anything for me really, you're the only real family I have."_

"_And your feeling alone is that it," he asked me, "you're in a plane of existence that not only doesn't follow your believe they don't understand it enough to believe in it themselves."_

"_Yeah,"_

"_Time Kassandra," he says, "In time you will find everything out, all your questions will be answered."_

_With that he is once again gone and I am standing there alone with no real answers to anything other than the ax hurt me for real._

_To me those moments I learned so much and yet nothing at all not one thing to really help me. _

_As soon as I was put together as much as I could I tossed my blood soaked clothes in the sink with some water and finished dressing to head out and buy some more bandages it looks as if I will need it._

_No sooner do I open the door that I see Chris standing there._

"_I'm sorry," he starts out, "I just, I mean, are you alright?"_

"_Not really," I admit and I don't know why, I mean I have yet to admit something like that to anyone before, "or not yet at least but in time."_

_He glanced passed me and into the room than at me, "were you talking to someone?"_

"_Um no, not really," I said, oh let's face it, I'm not sure that he would understand, don't know I would either. "I don't know what you're talking about."_

_Yeah fear me just isn't the way I want to make friends._

_Oh sure I can't hide some of the things I can do, like my strength, the way I look, or how I heal, or usually heal I should say. I suppose this little thing with the ax will help through him off a bit._

"_Um ok," he says, "here is your cut of the reward,"_

_It was 1000 credit; cool, not bad for a day's work even if it was more like part of a day's work, with the one exception of my gut that is._

_I had been thinking, after the contest and all, if I stock pile now it won't mean much helping out those who can't afford it at all or those months when work just doesn't come as easily._

"_Thank you," I said._

"_Well I was thinking of heading into the tavern for some food if you wanted to join me," Chris says_

"_Sure," I said, "but I'll meet you there in a bit I have to pick up a few things first."_

_Yeah like gauze and tape and wrap's, being that I have to heal this one normally I may want some antiseptic too, who knows if I can get an infection. I also bought myself a few more shirts and a new pair of pants too. After dropping off all my new supplies I went over to the tavern._

_The first thing I noticed as I walked in the bar was Mike and his rather tan friend sitting at a table. I tried with everything to ignore them and just go sit with Chris but I could feel their eyes on me._

"_I just ordered," Chris says, "for you to, I hope that's alright with you."_

"_Oh yeah fine," I said as I tried to be inconspicuous about glancing over at Mike and his friend._

"_I know about them also," Chris says, "they came in a few moments after I did and looked about, I can assume for you after how happy they seemed when you walked in."_

"_Just my luck," I said._

_Oh if I had ever in all my life had any luck it had always been bad luck. _

"_listen I don't plan on staying in this town much longer, actually I was planning on leaving in the morning," he says, "these parts, well they aint the safest alone, especially with this war, it all seems to have grown tenfold, with all the monsters coming out to play." _

"_I suppose," I say looking his way and I know exactly where he is going with it, "so than where dare I ask are you headed?"_

"_Don't really know yet," he said, "but that's the life of an adventurer isn't it?"_

"_So are you suggesting a team up of sorts for now" I asked him?_

"_It's not that bad of an idea," he says._

"_Alright than," I say, "I guess we leave in the morning for the next town we come across."_

_After a good night's sleep in a warm bed I rise to once again shower and redress my wounds and get dressed. I pulled my hair back into a braid the way I have every time I head out on the road it seems, and I pack up my bag and head across to the tavern that Chris was waiting for me at. He was sitting at a table already and Jeffry was just setting two plates of food down in front of him, the coffee was there too._

"_Women," Chris teased as he shook his head, "why is it they always take so long?"_

"_Sorry but the changing of bandages is a timely matter I'm afraid I'm not that used to," I said as I sat down._

_Yes it had begun to scab up some, like around the edges, but it still bled too, mostly when I moved or did something strenuous, and yes I know I probably should be giving myself a little more time to heal before taking off and all, but when had I ever been one for what I should do?_

"_Maybe something light like leather," Chris says and I roll my eyes, "ok I'm not going to pretend I'm the first to suggest it either."_

"_More like the twentieth one," I said._

_He shook his head and looked at me._

"_I'm rather cloister-phobic," I said once more like I had told him before the fight the day before and once again I am not real sure how or why I do, perhaps after being around the family I never really had and then being as honest as I could with John and Darius I just was more ready to except this one flaw openly. "The first time I put on armor, it was metal armor, full cyber-knight armor, I shook and cried and I couldn't breathe. Sir Darius and Sir Alex got me out of the armor as quick as they could and I collapsed, I expelled so much energy in my fear that I passed out from exhaustion._

"_I guess when I felt the fear of those men, felt the evil and all I could ignore my fear going into the cave, but afterward it hit me, like a hand around my chest, squeezing the air out of my lungs, I just had to get out and I couldn't really think straight. I guess what I am saying is if the cave is an indication of what I feel when in a tight space try imagining putting armor of any kind around my skin," I said_

_Not long after we are on the road and it is a rather slow ride going. I think Chris is pacing us because I'm hurt right now and part of me hates this more than I can explain. Not that I hate that Chris is thinking of me or being kind, but that I have to still be wounded, that I haven't healed yet. One of the things I love most of travel is letting loose on my horse, maybe that's why I haven't traded up yet, after riding on Alex's hover cycle. I mean yes you get places faster but it just isn't the same thing. With a horse you feel the gallop as you ride, the way the beast's muscles move, the trust it has in you and you in it. To me the ride is freeing in a way and I would like nothing more than to let loose, I just know better right now._

_Life on the road becomes a little more of the same over the next few weeks; we ride by day and camp by night. It takes a little over a week before I am healed completely but it does heal up finally, which made me happy. Just as Hermes said, not even a scar to show off my run in with that ax._

_Oh to get to a town and have a real shower, not just a quick wash up I a stream, and real food that you didn't have to kill yourself. How I loved being on the road now. We stopped off in a town that was having a dance much like the ones we used to have back home every now and again and Chris and I got caught up in it. Maybe I went a bit far, I cleaned myself up and brushed out my hair much the same way I had before when I entered the drinking contest, I dressed in the same leather pants and a prettier tank top than I usually would have worn._

"_Lady," Chris says when he sees me and he bows my way, we stayed and drank a little, even danced a little, and laughed, as the night grew later he walked me to the door of my room and said his good nights and left me for the night._

_Another week passed that we travel without hitting a town and I think we are both getting restless for a town. Than after a few more days we start to see a town in the horizon only a few more hours ride away._

"_I'll race you," Chris says and I laughed._

"_Ok than, you're on," I said._

_What was that Hermes said about my father not being able to say no to a challenge? _

_We both arrive at relatively the same time and tease about our tie some, but then to our dismay we realize there is something dreadfully wrong with this town. We see not one person in it. The place looks as if it were just abandoned completely, leaving all of everything in its place._

_We tie up our horses and wonder the town a while and still nothing. There is a music coming from the tavern from a jukebox and glasses of ale and whisky sitting on the bar. A dried up lime sits on a cutting board as if half in the middle of being cut._

"_Strange," I say._

"_I'd say," Chris says. The closer we get to the sheriff station we hear yelling coming from inside._

"_Let me out, help me, let me out, let me out, let me out," he just keeps yelling the same thing over and over. _

_We go it to the sheriff office and see a man behind bars, his dark hair wild right now and his eyes look about as if anxious._

"_Who are you," I asked_

"_Let me out, please just let me out, I'll go crazy in here," he said_

"_Go," Chris says with raised eyebrows looking my way._

_I tried sensing anything from him and got nothing, no evil, no psionic's, no magic, nothing. I started wondering why he was locked up at all and I felt a little badly for him. I mean it was obvious he had been in there a while without food, he was rather scrawny looking._

"_Ok we'll let you out just tell us where the keys are at," I say._

"_Key's shmey's, let me out," he begged._

"_Wait a moment," Chris says, "why exactly are you locked up anyway?"_

"_He's a touch crazy," the man says, than he turns his head as if he were talking to someone else, "shut up I am not crazy you are you nut job."_

_I look at Chris and shrug my shoulders; I mean really, what experience did I have in these matters?_

"_I don't see any keys," Chris says as he looks about the office, looking in drawers and such._

_I look at Chris and at this guy, than the bars themselves. The bars looked heavy, thick; I would bet they were MD strength for sure, but the hinged holding the place together looked weaker, rusted even._

"_Hold on a moment," I said as I took hold of the bars, "oh and stand back some ok, I don't want to hurt you by accident."_

_He moved back agents the wall as I braced myself then pulled the bars with everything I had, than pushed them some, pull, push, as I started feeling the hinges giving, for a few more moments I did this until finally the hinge snapped and the bars on the cell lay as dead weight in my hands._

"_Wow," the guy said, "thank you, thank you, oh thank you, I hate closed up spaces, they make me act funny and all, I just can't help it, but thank you, I will repay you for this honest I will, thank you."_

"_Alright already," I said, "how about moving so I can set the bars down now."_

"_Oh yeah sure," he says as he walks out of the cell. "Sorry I just, wow, I never seen no one like that before, I mean, thank you."_

"_Yeah I bet you haven't," I said as I set the bars down in the cell on the wall._

"_Well I guess these key's I just found are no longer in need," Chris says as he holds up the set of keys._

"_Oh sure now you find them," I say._

"_Maybe one day you will explain to me just how a little thing like you got so damn strong," Chris says?_

"_Maybe," I say but just like with Doc I doubt it really._

"_She is a juicer," the guy says, "huh aren't you a juicer, you got to be a juicer to move that thing."_

"_I'm not a juicer," I say and at the same time Chris says, "She is not a juicer."_

"_Are you a dragon in disguise," he asked and I laughed, I mean Doc thought so too._

"_No I'm not a dragon," I say._

"_Then you're a goddess," the guy says, "Yeah that's it she is a goddess it makes perfect sense,"_

"_Whatever," I say and I shake my head as if I'm dismissing the idea altogether, for I am not a goddess, only a demi, "so do you have a name of should we name you?"_

"_Oh um Peter, my name is Peter," he says, "how did you know I was here, did you come looking for me, am I dead, are you an angel?"_

"_No," I said, "I am neither a goddess nor and angel and we just stumbled upon this town by accident. But maybe you could tell us what happened to the people from this town?"_

"_people," he says, "there were no people only worms with faces and hands and legs, they acted all crazy and got mad at me for not being crazy like them and they locked me up to make me one of them, how mean."_

_I looked over at Chris and shrugged. I mean who really knows what happened here or what lived here. I guess stranger things have happened haven't they?_

_Oh Peter had more energy than a toddler I swear it._

_We walked about the town and to me I was growing more curious about this town and whatever happened to them. In houses you could see tables set for supper, food set out on the table, but no people, no sign of a fight or a struggle of any kind. I saw family photos of nice looking families, photos of little children dressed in their best and sitting pretty for a moment so I knew it were people who lived here._

_I tried once or twice to touch something only I got nothing much from it, just very vague impressions of children playing, an old man walking but nothing that could explain what it was that happened here at all._

_I think Chris by now knows why I'm touching things and he looks at me with questioning eyes and I shrug for there is nothing really for me to tell him._

_We are now standing outside of the general store and I lean up against a pole for a moment as I get fed up with my so called abilities. _

_A funny feeling comes over me as the scene about changes to another one, a flash of light takes me there, all around me now I see people walking and talking to each other as if it were just a normal day completely. Not one of these people sees me as if I am not even there._

"_What is this divine intervention," I muttered more to myself than anyone else, not that I expected to be heard either. I half expect to see Hermes but I don't. I see Peter going into the bar, it seems as if the day goes by in high speed, men with badges that I assume are sheriffs go into the bar too, they pull a rather drunk Peter out of the bar and down the street to the jail. It seems like only moment pass though I know it must have been longer in real life, this light, to me it looks like an out of control random rift, it jumps threw the town and the people it touches vanish just like that, until I see no people left. As suddenly as the vision came on it ends and I am once again just standing their leaning up against a pole. Peter and Chris just look at me._

"_She's crazy lock her up," Peter says to Chris._

"_I am not crazy," I said as I blinked my eyes a bit and look around me._

"_You asked something about an intervention," Chris says._

"_You heard that," I asked looking at him with confusion, "um ok, it's kind of hard to explain other than I had a vision."_

"_Another one," Chris says._

"_Yeah," I said, "if I had to guess what happened to all the people, I would say they all rode a rift or something, out of here, to somewhere else."_

"_So no attack," Chris asked._

"_Nope," I say._

"_No big bad thing to fight," he asked?_

"_Nope," I say._

"_Well ok than," Chris says, "I guess our job here is done than, right, I mean there is no fight to be had, so I suppose it wouldn't hurt nothing or no one if we get ourselves rooms and some rest, maybe some food before it all goes bad."_

"_Ok I'm all for a hot shower and food," I say, "maybe a bottle of whisky too, some sleep to be had, it could be good." _

_I really didn't say anything else, just walked over to the tavern where my horse was tied up and grabbed my bag off her than headed into the inn to grab a key to a room._

_Chapter 20 _

_The Greek way of life?_

_I swear I felt strange taking my shower, oh yes the water was still warm and nice, it felt good, but I was starting to feel as if I was in a ghost town and it had a bit of an eerie feel to it, as if at any moment I expected the people to either just show back up or there ghosts to do it._

_I think I took a longer shower than I normally would have feeling something in me I hadn't in a long time, a longing to be touched, a longing really for Alex, after all he is the only one who has touched me that way._

_Thinking about him I hoped he wasn't feeling the same almost frustration I was._

_I found Chris and Peter down in the tavern as Chris cooked up some oriental dish that John had made for us at the academy before._

"_Ooh smells good," I say, I looked over his shoulder and without real thought I think I leaned in a little closer than I normally would have._

"_Its home cooking," Chris says with a smile as he steps away from me some. It really wasn't until he stepped away that I realized just how close I was._

"_It don't smell right," Peter complained._

"_It's chicken teriyaki with rice," Chris says, "we also got us some bread too, and there is plenty of ale and yes lady whisky too."_

"_Ooh," I said and I had to wonder just were this was coming from in me. Yes I have drank before but I never really looked for it this way, something was changing I couldn't quite put my finger on and I didn't know exactly what._

_We sat in the empty tavern, all of us trying to pretend we weren't the only ones there, that there were other's about somewhere but it wasn't helping none, the eerie feeling still persisted._

_After diner I excused myself and went up to bed alone and I tried, oh how I tried to sleep, I lay in that bed for the longest time tossing and turning and I wasn't real sure what was keeping me up more, my loneliness or the strangeness of the empty town._

_Finally I give up and head out to walk the town alone._

_Oh gees Kass there are two men in this town, I tell myself, just grab one of them and get it over with. No, I don't trust Peter that much yet and Chris is a friend, I almost feel like he is a brother in a way. That isn't the way to deal with what I am feeling at all and I know it._

_I stop at one of the houses and look about inside, the pictures, the furnishings, even a few toys. Oh how I hope these people found a better place and not certain death the way I fear._

_I pick up a bottle of sweet tasting red wine from a table and I sit on the porch and drink it down, one drink at a time._

_I'm not real sure if I fell asleep or passed out, actually I'm not real sure I can pass out, but the next thing I know the sun is hitting my face. I sit up and look around confused for I am in a barn loft the only reason the sun hit my face is because the loft doors were open. It looks old, not run down old but medieval old, if you will. I look outside at the way the hills go on and on the way they do, not one thing in the way. Oh sure there are a few small buildings but nothing like I was used to, only homes and tress._

"_What the," I say._

_I see a house not far from the barn; in fact the barn was probably owned by whoever lived in the house. There are children playing about, two blond little boys and a little girl with her blond hair bouncing as she ran. They ran together and played happily calling for a father I don't see yet._

_I climbed down and went over to the front door to look out and I see a woman standing in the door of the house, she looks so much like my mother that a part of me had to have known who she was without being told yet. She doesn't just look like my mother but holds herself the same; she makes the same gestures too. The smile that is on her face as she watches the children play, oh she knows something. _

_I hear a roaring sound and get nervous for the safety of the children, this young family, than I see him, my father, he jumps out from behind a bush and grabs the three children playfully in his large arms, and they squeal with delight._

"_This was his family," I hear from behind me and I turn to see that blond man, the one from my dream a few weeks back, he is rather attractive, charismatic even._

"_Who are you," I asked, "if you don't mind my asking that is?"_

"_I'm Apollo," he says, "I'm your uncle, if you will, or half-uncle I guess, the god of music, education or knowledge, medicine, the bow, the sun god if you will, a few other things you know."_

"_Why are we here," I said._

"_You wanted answers," he says, "I would like to say I understand what it is you're going through but well, I was born a god so I guess I don't. However being born a god really isn't all it's cracked up to be if you ask me, there is a lot more work involved than anyone realizes."_

"_Anyhow this was his family," Apollo says, "his wife, one of them that is, his children, you know he was willing to turn his back on his godhood for them. Than Hera played one of her pranks on him, oh she does hate your old man, and they died, his children never made it into their teens, unlike you._

"_How did they die," I asked._

"_He killed them," Apollo says, "it was an accident really, not his fault, though he doesn't see it that way, even after all these years he doesn't. He had to pay restitution for the deaths and he lost some of his credibility with the people. I believe he got the chance to marry again but the girl's father wouldn't allow his daughter to marry a child killer._

"_Did he ever marry again," I asked_

"_Yes," Apollo says, "had a few sons too, though he was only a demi-god still so they really never went far, not like you, I guess that makes you the only living child of his, on this plain at least for a long time."_

"_What do you mean," I asked?_

"_There are a few on other worlds but nothing compared to you," he told me._

"_Why are you showing me this or tell me this," I asked?_

"_You wanted to know didn't you," he asked me? "So yes, yes he loved before, married, had children, he had everything and lost it all as well as a part of himself too for decades even. He vowed that he would never have another family, he wouldn't love, marry, nothing, not after what she did to him."_

"_I don't understand," I asked?_

"_I said he eventually married and had some sons," Apollo says, "she was jealous of another woman and gave him this cloak that was soaked with the poison of a Satyr's blood, though she didn't know it at the time. The cloak was killing him, burning his flesh, he should have died, but that whole godhood thing took over and he lived, however she killed herself out of guilt. He was so torn up about it all after what happened to his first family, than this, that he said he would never ever do it again._

"_then he comes back to this planet after all those years passed and he sees her, your mother, and she looks and acts so much like her, Deianeira, his first wife and he falls in love with the memory of what his life had been all those years ago, and for whatever reason when he finally got the chance to be with her he left her with something of himself, with you."_

_As he was telling about the affair that produced me the scene around me changed and suddenly here I was back home and watching from afar as Hercules worked hard to prove himself to my mother, I saw the looks they gave each other myself, subtle smiles, flirtation, soft kisses. I see for myself how my father picked my mother up, carried her off into the house as they stopped and kissed and touched._

"_he knew her heart wasn't his," Apollo says he stands close to me, just behind me looking out at my parents and how I came to be, over my shoulder, and to be honest it had been so long sense I had seen Alex that having a man, any man that close to me felt good. "He was just so caught up in what he wanted to feel that, having her look at him the way she did, it just made the fact that she didn't believe in our ways not matter as much. For a few weeks they were lovers don't let anyone lie to you that it was just once. And he broke his vow for her. The day after they were together he realized the mistake he had made, not in you but in her. But what could he really do, it was too late to turn back, he couldn't exactly take it away, he couldn't wait there and take you away with him. He went back to her, threw me in a way, to apologize for his selfishness. Your mother now that Thomas was back wanted nothing to do with him; she just wanted to pretend that her husband was your father. Even so he told her who and what he was, what we were really, what you would be. He even gave you your name you know. But the more he thought about it, about you, the more he realized he just couldn't do it, be in your life that is. You have no idea how afraid he is of you in a way. He is scared of knowing you, of being your father, of being the one to end your life."_

"_You know he thought you were a boy," Apollo says looking my way and I up at him, "there was some prophecy that he would father a child that would be a great hero, from your world, many prophecies in fact, though none of them are exact in detail. Threw out the pregnancy he bragged a bit about his son and all he would do. Then you emerged and a few of us teased a bit. Said things like I think your son is missing something, where is your sons you know, I think you get the point. So he sends the name to you, a small part of your heritage if you will._

"_As you grew, at first at least," he said, "you were happy and partly he wasn't because he was Jealous of Thomas, but he was proud of the pretty little girl that ran about with bouncing curls, he always knew you would be beautiful. It was Hera by the way, the old woman in the tavern that told Thomas you were another man's child. She just couldn't stand that his child was happy at all."_

"_He hated it completely not being able to be there for you, watching from afar, as much as he had disliked that Thomas was taking his role he hated it even more when he changed on you the way he did, the cruelty that engulfed your life and the way your mother just stood back and allowed it to happen. So he started looking into trainers for you, it had to be the best, but no matter how good this person was he had to believe in us too so he could be there for you in a way. That night, the dream you had, he couldn't take it anymore and we were starting to fear his temper would get the best of him again and he would come back here himself, you can't imagine just how bad that could have been. Zeus, our father, actually feared him coming and attacking Thomas and you getting in the way somehow and getting hurt or killed and how that would affect Hercules. So we sent Sir Darius, the cyber-knight that not only followed and believed in us but single handedly rushed a platoon of Vamperic solders and killed them all, got out alive, the only survivor. When it was feared you're getting out safely I sent in Sir Alexander to help him. I never thought Darius couldn't do it but no one wanted you to feel the guilt of some fools death on your head just yet. I guess I never thought when I asked Alex to help you that you two would develop feelings for each other this way._

"_you know you're the favorite," Apollo says, "you're his second chance at a family, I believe Athena already said you were the one to teach him a lesson already, taught an old fashioned man that a girl, sorry a woman, can do anything a man can do, be the same hero he imagined you would be before your birth. He came around and bragged that you killed that t-rex, though you got yours too, he bragged that though you were hurt you still kept fighting, were thrown into a tree and still got back up and fought, an army of creatures, saved innocent lives, took that blow from the minotaur that should have been fatal really."_

"_Like I said, there is a son or two out there, one is a farmer, not that he sees anything wrong with it, it is a good profession for any normal man or woman, but you just seem to be so much more like him then they are, definitely your father's daughter and he is very proud of it and you, in all you do or have done."_

"_So than why is it that I never see him or hear from him," I asked?_

"_Don't think he doesn't love you," Apollo says, "we are talking of the god of strength you know, not exactly known for being sentimental, yet he keeps a trophy from your first fight in a room off his room, whenever he wants to think of you he goes in there and looks over the things you have done. And by first I mean the guy you fought in Still Water years ago saving those girls lives, he was so damn proud of you. He has things from other fights as well, like that Weston guy, the t-rex, even that drunk in the bar and the Coalition officer who lost his head. For that all he could say was that's my girl and what a stupid shmuck he was to even try with a demi-goddess. He loves you dearly, he is just afraid of you, of hurting you or killing you."_

_I look away and walk out of the barn wishing we were still in the past, not the past I was born in but the real past with his first family, wished I could go to him and just stay there as his daughter forever more. I put my arms on the top of the post and lay my head on them._

"_hay don't look so down," Apollo says and he follows me out, "part of it is this damn planet, he just can't do much here, it's part of the penance for something he did long ago, here he has no power, not even of a demi-god, unless sent here for one reason or another. You will see him, meet with him in time."_

"_If he can't come here why can't I just go there," I asked as I looked back at him._

"_You will in time," he said, "you're not ready just yet, besides what about Alex, you are in love with him are you not? How would you like leaving him behind forever? Look believe me there will be time before you two are over and done with. Not that there won't be other lovers in your future, I mean come on."_

"_What do you mean done," I asked._

"_I mean over, you know gone, um dead," he says, "no matter how you may want to see Hercules would you really do it without Alex, risking never seeing him again, never kissing him or you know where I am going with this right?"_

"_Sleeping with him," I said as I turned around and lean up against the pole._

_He smiled and shook his head, "oh how I want to act a little too much like my father right now, " he says, "look you're the daughter of Hercules, that vow of chastity, I never believed it, it was like blowing smoke you know, I sooner believe Aphrodite taking that vow."_

"_Oh man," I said looking away from him._

"_Now fair Lady, daughter of Hercules, god of strength, with strength, stamina, beauty, and speed, agility, grace, and charm. you should wake before I do that one thing that keeps going thru my head and I know will anger your father something awful," he says as he ever so lightly brushed a stray hair or two out of my face, his touch so soft and warm when it had been so long sense any man touched me in any way took my breath for a second just as I swore I saw his eyes take on a similar thought as mine. "Besides the world has been going on without your beauty long enough don't you think?"_

_He leans forward and kisses my forehead and I open my eyes to a new day._

_I am now sitting on the porch waking up, sitting up, and Chris is standing there looking at me, Peter stands next to him._

"_Have a few too many last night," Chris asked as he picked up the bottle that I had been drinking, that sweet wine, he smells it and his eyes water, "wow, what did you drink that is some strong booze, feeling alright."_

"_Yeah I'm fine," I said, I rubbed my eyes a little but I had no pain in my head or anything. "I guess I just couldn't sleep, I mean being here and all isn't it eerie to you?"_

"_yeah I know the feeling I barely slept a wink myself," Chris says, "so what's say we grab us up some gear and take off for the next town, one with people."_

"_Sure," I said, "I think I'll shower maybe change first."_

_We were just starting to pack the horses when another horse rode into town rather quickly and for a split second I thought it may just be a fight until I saw the man's face and I smiled to myself._

"_Well if it isn't the lady herself," he says, "are you folk coming or going?"_

"_Going, believe me you don't want to stay in this town alone," I say to Kean, who I met just before I went home to see mama._

"_Why is that," he asked me, "the chicks that bad?"_

_I just laughed, "Actually they aren't any chicks of any age or looks at all; there aren't any people at all."_

"_What do you mean," he asked?_

"_It seems a random rift went thru here a few days ago and took all the people with it," I said._

"_Damn," he said._

"_We were just leaving," I say, "you're welcome to join us if you like, not real sure just where we are going yet but the more the merrier you know."_

_We ride for a few days and come across some more of those white creatures that I jump right off my horse to fight, Kean joins too, as does Chris and Peter and we smash thru them in no time._

"_Woo hoo," Kean yelled as he grabbed me around the waist and hugged me, "damn that was awesome, I mean really, you rock, we rock together babe."_

_I just laughed as I pulled myself out of his arms. _

_We camp out under the stars as and Kean pulls out a bottle of whiskey and hands it to me and for whatever reason I take a few drinks._

"_Thanks," I say._

"_Anyone else," Kean asked._

"_No man that's ok," Chris says, "I'm taking the first watch I don't want to be falling asleep on anyone."_

_The next morning Kean is helping pick up camp and I head down to the pond to clean up the dishes._

"_Hay Kassie wait up a minute," Chris says, he runs up to me and we both walk over to the small pond, "hay I don't want to over step or anything, I mean we are friends, we watch each other's backs and not just in a fight either so watch yourself with Kean, my gut says something isn't right."_

"_Your gut," I say, "ok, but I have known him a while and I think he's harmless, he's a good guy, believe me if he was anything but he has had chance after chance to prove that to me."_

_A few more days travel and a storm starts in as we come into an encampment of such, small buildings but no real properties of a town like an inn or a tavern no store._

_I climb off my horse and tie her up and the rest of my group follows suit and I start to see it, the symbols of Athena, Aphrodite, Artemis, even Hera, all the goddesses of my pantheon._

"_Where are we," Kean asked, he reached out and touched one of the symbols on a wall, "what are these drawings?"_

"_That is the symbol of Athena and I would appreciate it if you showed it respect," I said._

"_What you believe in that," Kean says?_

"_Yes I do, with my heart and soul I do," I said._

_Before I had a chance to say anything else someone else spoke up, a woman. _

"_Put your hands up and don't move one muscle," she said._

_I do as I'm told kind of, I put up my hands but I slowly turn around to face this woman, or women I should say for there are at least ten of them. These women are all dressed much the same as Kara had been, much the same as I have seen Athena dress too._

"_I said don't move," one of the woman says to me._

"_I mean you no harm," I say, "I gather from the symbols and your attire you follow my goddesses."_

_Yes for once I will claim them in a way, not that anyone caught on to the my part any more than that I believe too._

"_You would gather right," another woman says this one's dark hair reaches near her thigh._

_The weaponry they hold looks to me ancient but also well cared for and I wouldn't put it past the goddesses to have blessed them in some way._

"_Then I hope you believe when I say I would never disrespect them in anyway," I say, "in fact some of them have been very kind to me in the past, Athena for one I have a great respect for."_

"_Athena," one woman says as she looks at another girl._

"_Yes Athena," I say, "though I have had more contact in the past with Hermes and Apollo than the rest of the pantheon."_

"_You know of our ways than," the older of the women said looking at me._

"_I think so but I'm not sure completely," I said, "are you not the Amazon women who follow the goddesses, you have sworn off men altogether."_

"_Yes we are," the oldest says._

"_Is Kara here," I asked, "After the vampire attack months back did she make it back here in one piece, how about the baby?"_

"_Lady Kassandra," I hear from behind me and I look to now see the door to the building is open, there Kara stands dressed in a white dress, her long dark hair pulled back. I look at her and I smile as I put down my arms. I mean really what could any of these women do to me other than realize what I was by attacking me._

"_Kara," I say and we embrace for a long moment._

"_I can't believe it's really you," she says._

"_Me look at you," I said, I backed up with my hands still on her arms and looked at her. "How did it go, I mean you obviously got home?"_

"_Yes, it was a strange road but we got here safe, I have to believe we had some help from the goddesses. Oh, Ellie, that's what we have been calling her for short, she is fine, thriving they say."_

"_I would love to see her again," I said._

"_Um I don't want to interrupt but are we still in trouble," Chris asked?_

"_Wait are they with you," Kara asked me._

"_Yes of course," I said._

"_What happened to Alex or Doc, even Luke," she asked?_

"_Luke we took home, no matter how I wanted to drop him off a cliff," I said and even she chuckled at that, "and Alex and Doc joined the war, these would be my new friends, Chris, Peter, and Kean."_

"_Oh please put your arms down some of you truly need a bath," Kara says and I laugh, "Sisters put down the weapons it's alright really, this is Lady Kassandra, she is the cyber-knight that helped me before, she found and saved little Ellie, the one who knew our ways."_

_Slowly weaponry was lowered as Kara ushered us into the building that mostly consisted of tables that were close to the floor and cushions on the floor for sitting. _

_Kara instructed everyone to sit down as some younger girls, maybe thirteen or fourteen years of age, come out with trays of some sweet wine that makes me think of Dionysus and Apollo, and bowls of soup and rice._

"_Please everyone eat," Kara tells them, "and Kassandra tell us, please, of your adventures after we parted ways?"_

"_Me," I asked, "wouldn't that be rather boring?"_

"_What would you like to talk about," Kara asked._

"_How about for a change we talk about Olympus and those who inhabit there, tell me for once of the goddesses," I asked?_

"_I don't know where to begin really," Kara says and she looks over toward the elder looking woman who I think is rather unhappy that we are here._

"_Please do excuse Elsa," Kara says, "but truth be told we don't really let outsiders in to our world, ever actually. But I have to believe that the goddesses would approve being that you believe."_

_I set down the goblet of wine and look over at these women that have welcomed us into their home._

"_I won't lie to you," I say, "not all the goddesses like me, Hera for whatever reason hates me. Artemis I haven't met, though her brother Apollo was kind, I've met Hermes a few times, actually the most of all them, he pops his head in a lot of mirrors, and Athena has been rather kind to me over the years, in her I do trust."_

"_I still don't understand," Kara says._

"_You mean about Hera," I said and Kara doesn't have to say anything I know it's what she meant. "She hates my father, always has, I guess she has decided to take her vengeance on him out on me, something about his turning his back on his godhood and my being living proof of that."_

_Chris just looks at me and I look down for once I know what I must admit and I'm ashamed that I partly feel some shame in the admittance of it for I feel in a way I should have pride in who and what I am yet here and now is when I make or break friendships isn't it?_

"_Hercules is my father," I say, "years ago Zeus had an affair that produced my father, the god of strength. I guess Hera always hated Hercules for whatever reason, then they made some truce over the years as he became more family, or more god then human but he strayed from that with my mother so she tends to hate me and she has in the past, when I was little at least, tried to cause me harm."_

"_but Athena," Kara says._

"_Has been kind," I said, "she showed up when I was rather young and told me of her ways, of a great hero from long ago that cared greatly for me, his daughter. Apollo recently took it upon himself to show me more, explain more of his history and how I came to be in the first place. If stories are true and Apollo and Artemis are as close as they say than she shouldn't have a problem with me that I know of. As far as Aphrodite I don't know really, that one I'm partly afraid of if history is true and the things some have said to me or of me, though I would hope she understand I haven't said it or thought it, and that, well I have had no choice in the matter."_

"_So than as the daughter of a god that makes you a goddess," one of the women said as a few of the others agreed with her._

"_No I'm not," I said and once again I looked at Chris for not that long ago Peter had said something similar that I disagreed with. One thing I was rather uncomfortable with when it came to the gods was clamming to be something I'm not. "Look I'm not a god or goddess, they say demi-god but I'm not even real sure about that. Yes I'm the offspring of a god but I certainly don't have the power behind me of a god."_

"_see now I understand why no armor," Chris says, "I think I understand a lot more too, except how that ax hurt you so bad and all."_

"_It was enchanted, and I was talking to someone, to Hermes, he said I would have to heal it like a normal person, not like I usually do, believe me the fact it wasn't healing the way it normally would scared the hell out of me more than I could have explained if I had the words to explain it," I said_

"_but hay I usually heal well," I said, "if you thought that was bad you should have seen me right after the t-rex bit the hell out of me, I mean really it dug it's big ass teeth into bone, it threw me into a tree and to add insult to injury it picked me back up and bit me again, and when it finally died the fucker fell on me."_

"_Ouch," Kean said._

"_Yeah," I said, "it took like a week to heal all that and that was with the whole demi-god regeneration, but then really haven't you ever noticed that not only do I not wear armor but I have no scars at all." _

"_I saw her a few days after the attack and the gashes still there it is why I thought she was a slave of the men she traveled with," Kara said. "She even, after being told more than once to be careful, was scratched by one of the vampires."_

"_ok, yeah I don't always listen to reason I go with my gut and kind of faze out all but instinct when in a fight or going into a fight," I admit and Chris nodded his head in agreement._

"_And tear the bars right off a jail cell with your bare hands," Chris teased._

"_God of strength," was all I could say._

_After more talking and drinking Kara has one of the women escort the men of my group to another tent where they can shower and get some rest._

"_It's nice having you here," Kara tells me, "come, we will get cleaned up also, and get a chance to acquaint ourselves better."_

_What I though she meant I don't know but I followed her out and over to a building that looked old, it resembled in a way the one in my dreams that my father was always in, marble pillars and white stone with golden leaves etched in the stone. It was beautiful the symbol of Aphrodite was the most prominent of them all and I realized it was in a way a shrine to her and her ways. _

_The room was warm; a slight mist filled the air caring the scent of jasmine, rose, and a few other flowers. In the middle of the room there sat a large pool sized bath tub filled with a milky liquid. It must have been deep for I see a few women in the water already. Other women are along a wall undressing and showering off before getting into the water._

_I look over at Kara and she has begun to undress too, "you said you worship the goddesses and gods do you not," she says, "well we worship Aphrodite also, the goddess of love, there is nothing wrong with women loving women is there?"_

_As she speaks another woman, with long red hair and bright green eyes, comes over and starts caressing over my body. Oh it had been so long sense I had seen Alex, sense I had been touched by Alex, I mean come on really I was almost willing to come on to Apollo and that would have been wrong on levels. So this girl, this other woman touching me felt good in ways I had been longing for for weeks now._

_As she started pulling my top off I didn't have a resistance at all._

_As I help undress myself I can't help but think and wonder just what it is I am doing, what it is I have gotten myself into, I just can't stop it, or maybe I just won't. _

_Oh this is wrong, I tell myself, yet wouldn't it in a way be offensive to Aphrodite if I objected? Oh who am I kidding if it were wrong, really really wrong, would it feel good?_

_The water is warm and inviting; I easily relax into it as a blonde swims up to behind me and starts rubbing my shoulders as another set of hands caresses over the muscles above my breasts._

"_I take it you have never done this before," Kara asked me and suddenly she is next to me also, rather close next to me._

"_No," I admit, "just Alex, ever."_

"_Just close your eyes and let us teach you," someone else says._

"_Just stay there and feel it," another woman says._

_I feel soft lips on mine, soft hands touch all over my body, everywhere. _

_Before I know it there are lips kissing over my chest, my breast, down my belly button and farther down even. I feel a hand on me, touching me, and I open my eyes to see Kara touching me, someone else, the red head, is touching and kissing her too. Other women are doing much the same all around us._

_I just do as I was told and I close my eyes and let myself feel it, really feel it all, as something only Alex has done for me comes over me and I'm rather surprised it felt so damn good._

_I can't help myself I reach out and let my hands caress over Kara and the blonde that has been touching me, I let myself kiss them, and do back what they have been doing to me._

_Come morning I wake in a rather large and soft bed, entwined with Kara and the blonde I still haven't gotten a name for, right behind me is the red head. A sheet is the only thing covering anyone for no one is wearing a stitch of clothes._

_The moment I start moving they realize I'm awake and I'm greeted once more with the kiss of soft lips on my lips and skin as I cry out with what it is I'm feeling._

_One of the younger women from the night before, the ones who were to take my friends to their quarters for the night, comes in with a tray of fruit and cheese and bread, followed by another who has a bottle of that sweet wine and a few goblets. _

_They come over to the bed and don't leave the platter but the girl picks up a piece of melon and feeds it to me. That is how my morning goes, these women feeding me food and wine to keep up my energy so they can have their way with me and to be honest I didn't mind at all._

_By the time I force myself to climb out of that bed and take a shower and dress in my own clothes it was after noon and I'm rather surprised at myself for my behavior._

_Before looking for my party I stop off at the altar to Athena and knelt down before it. "If I have done anything wrong I'm so sorry," I say to her, "but please oh please don't take this one back to other's ears, I can't explain it."_

_That's where Chris finds me._

"_There you are," he says, "where have you been, we have been worried about you and every time we ask anyone where you were they just say nothing at all and get us another cup of wine or more food."_

_I look up at him and truly I don't know what to say._

"_Really Kassie it's not like you to sleep passed seven in the morning or to disappear on us, it's nearly two now."_

"_I'm fine," I tell him, "look there is still some daylight left, we should get the other two and get on our way while we can."_

"_What do you mean by that is something wrong," he asked?_

"_No nothing," I say and I stand up, "I'll grab my gear and meet you by the horses for now, just get Kean and Peter ok."_

"_Yeah ok," he said, "but really Kassie, if something was wrong would you tell me?"_

"_Yeah sure," I said, "I mean I told you about the one thing I don't tell anyone didn't I, the whole who and what my father is and what I am and all, didn't I?"_

"_I guess you did," he says._

"_Please understand that I don't tell that information for a reason," I said, "I mean this time I did because it helped us and because these people believe. But I don't just give up that because I'm scared in a way of people not believing me of fearing me based on it, please say you understand it."_

_He smiled, "yeah I understand."_

"_Thank you."_

"_No problem Lady."_

_I go out and gather my things and take my bag out to my horse where the other members of my party are now waiting for me. Together Kara walks out with Donna and Lucy, the red head and blonde, to say good bye, all three gave me a hug and a rather passionate kiss before I get up on my horse. Over in the group of girls I over hear a few of them say how lucky the three had been because I was a demi-goddess and I turn a little red in the face and look away from the men I travel with._


End file.
